Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Having retired from 40 years of sales in the same field, I have to agree - the pay locally isn't nearly what it can be elsewhere. Flip side - the family has been in this area since the 1830's, so my roots are deep. That's what kept us here, and frankly I don't regret it. Being able to walk into a store and have a check accepted despite the "no checks" sign - having children who've been hired because "we know your family" - to me, those are things you just can't put a price on.
There ARE those still out there that will make a decision based on reputation - and it's something I emphasized to my kids growing up - that a reputation can make or break you. Doesn't work everywhere - but frankly, it's MY face that I've got to look at in a mirror, and that's what counts in my book.
San Antonio certainly isn't for everyone, but there's a LOT of "hidden gold" out there if you're willing to find it. Y'know the old saw "Money can't buy happiness"? Well.......it IS true. Different communities will "fit" different folks. If you don't like it, for heavens' sake - MOVE. Don't make yourself (and others) miserable by spending all your time grousing over how unhappy you are someplace!
Now....flame-retarding suit on, y'all go ahead an' have at it!
And this.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by justiciability
Seattle and San Francisco are also next to large bodies of water which lead to some interesting landscapes and outdoor activities. Easy choice for a lot of people when comparing it to this flatland.
The natural landscape of the West Coast is heaven on earth. It's the low population density and COL that make San Antonio nice. Take that away and most folks would prefer to live elsewhere unless they have ties here like TexasRedneck.
When it comes to professionals, it's not just the salaries but opportunity for promotion and selection of employers to choose from.
No, actually Denver, Tampa and Austin. Now that i think of it...I know one more outside of Indy and another in San Diego both north of 100K. I'm sure the guy in SD is way over 100K..because I remember him telling me that he hit the 100K mark...and this was about 12 years ago.
Last edited by Pancho-Villa; 10-24-2015 at 12:30 PM..
I guess since I've been in IT for 30 years and on the tail end of my career, I'm the flip side of this argument. I came to SA for four reasons. One because my wife's job with the Army environmental command relocated from Aberdeen, MD and they offered relo. Two, I work for a company of folks who don't care where I work from. Three, the cost of housing here is roughly 33 percent less than it is the mid-Atlantic region (used to be 40). Four, for the weather. Yes, I made more money when I was in banking in DE, but I also slept less, had to wear a monkey suit, and endure brutal winters. Life here is much less stressful, and I guess at the end of my career, that's what I'm seeking. I don't need the big money to know my worth. In less than a year, I've already saved the company's butt a few times and the CEO has said as much.
We don't know if we want to retire here, but these last 5-7 years of working should be enjoyable ones.
One thing SAT has going for it is that the people are so friendly and hard working.
I'm keeping one of my eyes partially open to the idea of jumping ship to a local IT company like Rackspace, but they seem a little too hipster to me. But their market is brutally competitive from the business side. I would understand if they are not paying the highest salaries. Don't think I would be interested in returning to NSA either. The recent announcement from Intel has sparked an interest as well.
What I think is a huge gap in SAT is no significant university draw of talent. I know you guys love your UTSA, your Texas Tech, but they are not national draws. You need to provide students a compelling reason to attend from out of state. UT Austin has that, and from the first time I landed in Austin in 1996, I've been a fan. I've never met anyone who's been to Austin who doesn't like it.
So you take the comments about one employer in SA and generalize those comments for all of SA... all in one sentence.
I'm making a broad statement about most of the city and its employers. I worked for the economic development foundation and saw a lot of salary data. And I met a lot of employers and heard a lot of their spiel. Boy, did they think they could open shop in SA and pay low wages. It was usually tied to "lower cost of housing" or a general "low cost of living." Hah. If you want talent, you have to pay for talent.
I'm making a broad statement about most of the city and its employers. I worked for the economic development foundation and saw a lot of salary data. And I met a lot of employers and heard a lot of their spiel. Boy, did they think they could open shop in SA and pay low wages. It was usually tied to "lower cost of housing" or a general "low cost of living." Hah. If you want talent, you have to pay for talent.
I don’t even work in the tech industry and I know this is happening and it is happening across different professional industries in town. There is a “cheap” and “value-driven” mentality here. You can have 2 out of the 3 but not all 3:
1) Good
2) Cheap
3) Fast
Couldn’t agree more that you get what you pay for. In order for this to change, it needs to start from the top but the ones being hired also have to start pushing back and saying “no.“ If you are good at what you do and truly has the experience/background to prove it, then by saying “no” is the best thing you can do and it can be powerful. If enough people do that, it will create a mind-shift at the top and they will then have no choice but to start paying more.
I think part of the corruption is that as long the top can continue to stay wealthy by keeping their workers’ pay low and business is running as usual, then there is no reason for them to change. The one group that is pushing the envelope and starting to get things done is Tech Bloc.
Last edited by Quattro72; 10-26-2015 at 08:34 AM..
We live south of Austin, about 40 miles SW. The commute is about 1 hour outside rush hour (which Austin seems to be a constant rush hour 24/7 these days) and about 2 hours during rush hour. I did it for about... couple of weeks before I started working from home. I have been everything from director of IT to Sr Admin to Sr Big Data engineer to trading desk director for a firm managing north of $70 billion on in-house software (that my team and I enhanced, used etc.). I have been exposed to almost all portions of the software/IT industry including working for a startup from Iceland (from home). Started on a commodore 64 in the 1980s and have worked on everything from a single CPU machine to massively parallel government installations.
Austin is an abomination, in my mind. Sure, if you are young and have no life - you may as well be happy to work 20 hours a day for some startup and risk your neck every day biking to work. Or you can rent a place near work for a small fortune and save nothing for the later years in the process. If you want to live anywhere outside of the super-expensive downtown, get ready to spend your life in the car and to add a few hours to your commute.
Yup, you will learn a lot but bear in mind, a lot of startups produce barely working crap that almost never passes the prototype phase (but this doesn't prevent them from putting up a flashy website when the buggy crap they produce is 20% "done"). What you learn in these shops may NOT be the best engineering practices, however it may be what gets you the next job in a different startup since they all want the same hurried practices and the "get it done any way you can, doesn't matter if it is crap in the long run" attitude.
For us who actually went to school because we love CS - well, tough luck, not many companies these days are interested in proper CS and engineering. They are out there but you have to look long and hard.
Now, we are selling our home in our little village here. It is a renovated (did it ourselves, bought it as a foreclosure for much, much less) mobile home on fully usable 5 acres of Hill country land, we have two horses and our home will sell for about $250K. I can take $150K of that money and move 30 miles south of San Antone on a lot double the size or more (10-15 acres) of nice grass WITH A HOME ON IT and PAY FOR EVERYTHING IN CASH. My commute will still probably be better than the commute into Austin, should I or my wife want to work in the city. So, in one fell swoop I made a nice bunch in my bank account, doubled or trippled the land I own, I have no mortgage AND the property taxes are way lower than Hays county.
So, unless you are a hipster or you are looking for a particular start-up experience - the cons of living in or around Austin far outweigh the pros.
We have special requirements having two horses, I like to have a few acres, some pasture, space for stables and a riding arena. We also garden seriously to the point where we grow all the veggies we eat, we keep bees and are on solar etc. etc. I have looked long and hard for cities where I can live within 30-40 miles of downtown and have all this for a reasonable price. San Antonio (S, SE, SW) is one of the rare places where it is doable. Try doing the same in Seattle or Atlanta or Portland or Austin, for that matter. I have a standing offer to work in a senior position in Alfaretta, GA for a large employer. Nice salary etc. If I wanted the same experience there, I would be looking at a 5 acre home for, oh, let's see - $400K and up....
I agreed with you. Cost of living is really not that much cheaper here.
And regarding the job market and talent, it is a catch-22 situation. Companies are not relocating here because there is not enough “local” talents and talents are not moving here because not enough companies are here to attract them. And call-centers are not what I am talking about.
Of course there are exceptions to this but this is a military, hospitality, and healthcare town. SA has always been viewed as a “low-value” city and unless things change, that perception will always be stuck here.
Rackspace is a big player in the tech industry, a big tech company that is based in a city that is not really known as a tech hub, even though it is quietly evolving into one, that is centered around cyber security. I read an article that there are over 100 cyber security companies based in San Antonio both public & private. The tech industry has grown to a $15 billion generator to the local economy that is now bigger than San Antonio's 5th largest industry, tourism.
I think San Antonio's problem is that it is most known for the Riverwalk, Spurs and the Alamo and not as much as a hip cool place to live. Nevertheless, San Antonio is becoming more trendy and hip but i doubt it will ever be able to compete head on with places on the east & west coasts, San Fran, Boston, Seattle, the same for the other Texas cities.
Last edited by SweethomeSanAntonio; 11-01-2015 at 10:46 PM..
Rackspace is a big player in the tech industry, a big tech company that is based in a city that is not really known as a tech hub, even though it is quietly evolving into one, that is centered around cyber security. I read an article that there are over 100 cyber security companies based in San Antonio both public & private. The tech industry has grown to a $15 billion generator to the local economy that is now bigger than San Antonio's 5th largest industry, tourism.
I think San Antonio's problem is that it is most known for the Riverwalk, Spurs and the Alamo and not as much as a hip cool place to live. Nevertheless, San Antonio is becoming more trendy and hip but i doubt it will ever be able to compete head on with places on the east & west coasts, San Fran, Boston, Seattle, the same for the other Texas cities.
And that's a good thing. San Antonio is original in many ways and it would be nice if it could stay that way. Not every place has to become a faceless, characterless mess that caters to EVERY taste or where the workforce is uniformed by way of wearing tattoos, tight jeans, fake glasses and unisex hairstyles.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
before I started working from home. I have been everything from director of IT to Sr Admin to Sr Big Data engineer to trading desk director for a firm managing north of $70 billion on in-house software (that my team and I enhanced, used etc.). I have been exposed to almost all portions of the software/IT industry including working for a startup from Iceland (from home). Started on a commodore 64 in the 1980s and have worked on everything from a single CPU machine to massively parallel government installations.
